


In? Out?

by Mischief_Tea



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Cat tendencies, F/M, Gen, Marichat, Platonic Marichat - Freeform, adrien-is-not-a-cat, bonus strong mari, chilly maribug, could be shippy or not I leave it up to you, evening hangouts, p sure chat doesn't even know why he's here rn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-23
Updated: 2018-01-23
Packaged: 2019-03-08 11:35:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,207
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13457403
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mischief_Tea/pseuds/Mischief_Tea
Summary: Some catlike behaviors are endearing. This is not one of them.





	In? Out?

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Freedom_Shamrock](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Freedom_Shamrock/gifts), [because you made me want to write marichat](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=because+you+made+me+want+to+write+marichat).



The skylight thumped open for the fourth time that night and Marinette was tempted to throw her textbook at the stupid cat.  
  
“Chat Noir!” She snapped, “Make up your mind if you’re staying in or going out!”  
  
The skylight thumped shut and a blonde head peeked over the side of her bed. She glared up at him. Green on green eyes blinked slowly despite clear agitation and his left ear twitched.  
  
“Sorry, Marinette, I just keep feeling like I’m missing something. Do you think maybe Ladybug went by? I think I would _know_ if Ladybug went by, you know?”  
  
Marinette gave him a flat look. “Chat, you are not missing anything by staying inside, but if you’re worried about it, why don’t you just leave? You’re the one who wanted to come over.”  
  
Chat’s face disappeared over the side of the bed with a slightly affronted expression.  
  
He didn’t reappear. Marinette sighed.  
  
She turned back to the desk.  
  
_Ugh._  
  
_Homework._  
  
There was a tiny clatter up above. She ignored it.  
  
The latch on the skylight slid.  
  
He was stretched up half-kneeling on the bed and already pushing the window open when Marinette’s hand clamped down on his wrist.  
  
“Chat! Stop opening the skylight unless you’re actually leaving!”

He smirked.  
  
“I could have bee-”  
  
She didn’t buy it for a second.  
  
“Cut it out.”  
  
His ears laid back and he made a slightly confused looking pout.  
  
“I might miss something.”  
  
“You might be missing a few _limbs_ pretty quick if you don’t cut that out!”  
  
She shook his wrist a little for emphasis and he pulled it away.  
  
“Well, it’s so comfy and warm in here, but it’s so interesting outside and I still keep thinking I’ll miss something, but I wanna be here with you and I can’t decide so I just thought maybe if I poked my head out for a second but then I’m not really sure if I should just go out and then it’s warm in here and it’s raining and you’re here and _why can’t I decide?!_ ”  
  
Marinette sat back on her bed as her (part-time) resident Cat hunched over in what seemed like some kind of sudden internal mental crisis.  
  
Her eyebrow raised in skeptical bemusement.  
  
“You know you’re not a real cat, right Chat?”  
  
He stopped and blinked up at her.  
  
“Uhhh-”  
  
_Seriously, what._  
  
“Of course not?”  
  
_Is that a question? Why is he asking me?_  
  
“Uuuugggggh,” she finally flopped away from him, narrowly missing his knees.  
  
Chat was peering at the skylight pensively, lips stuck out in what the online fandom (Lord save them, they had a fandom) had dubbed ‘the duckface of unhappiness’. To her it just meant that he was mentally processing something he didn’t like and felt peevish about it.  
  
“Just leave it, Chat. I’m gonna make you come sit down there with me.”  
  
Whatever he’d been thinking derailed and he turned surprised eyes on her.  
  
“I thought you needed to study.”  
  
She shut her eyes on him and the (now super less-than-convenient) skylight and gave a slight shiver.  
  
“Yeah well I’m not studying now because I’m too cold because _**someone**_ keeps letting out all of the warm air!”

She really wanted to be able to just curl up in a sweater and be better, but it always seemed like just _breathing_ in winter made her want to go to sleep. _Part of being Ladybug_. Tikki herself was much more stalwart, but unlike Marinette, _she'd_ been toughening up for the last two-thousand-plus years against her natural hibernation instincts.  
  
There was a pause.  
  
  
  
Chat's weight shifted on the bed.  
  
**_“I could warm you up, Purrrrrincess.”_ **  
  
His voice was suddenly much too close to her ear and her hand flew up. She smacked his chin away before even opening her eyes.  
  
“Ouwpff!” There was a thud and she caught the sight of his feet flailing into the air as he fell backward into the crack between the bed and the railing.  
  
She gave a huff, sitting up.  
  
_Really, **what am I supposed to do with this?**_  
  
...  
  
“I’m going to finish my homework before it gets too late for my brain to do basic sums. Are you coming or just gonna lay there for the rest of the night?”  
  
Chat’s belt-tail twitched against the railing out of sight, the end making a small clinking sound.  
  
“Mmmg.” He groaned, still not moving from where he’d landed. She crawled to the edge of the bed and looked down at him where he was bent almost entirely in half. His arms were half-sprawled against the railing but pinned above his head by his own weight.  
  
“You okay?”  
  
He didn’t say anything, eyes lifted imploringly from where his chin shoved up against his suit. A weird whine seemed to emanate from his chest, reminding her of a growling siamese. Her eyes narrowed.  
  
“Are you stuck?”  
  
The whine cut off and tail twitching increased.  
  
“You’re stuck.”  
  
The expression that crossed Chat’s face was nothing short of pathetic.  
  
_Why me?_ To his typical misfortune, she was long immune to kitten eyes. She started heading toward the other end of the bed.  
  
He finally cracked.  
  
“Aaaa- wait! That came out wrong and I’m very sorry. Please help me up?”  
  
Marinette turned and leaned forward to grab his shoulders. Then, with a grunt, she hefted him upwards away from the railing and hauled him back onto the bed.

He squeaked.

Chat was dropped splayed on his stomach and Marinette went back downstairs.  
  
It was a few minutes back into her assignments before Chat finally made it down to the lower level of the room, looking abashed.  
  
“Erm… sorry about that, Marinette. Are you sure it’s all right if I stay a little longer?”  
  
She finished the problem she was working on before answering, then spun her chair around. Honestly,  she didn’t mind the company, and was rather flattered that he seemed to take as much comfort in her civilian presence as in her superhero one, even though these hangouts were remarkably uneventful and had nothing to do with hero-ing.  
  
“You know I don’t mind having you over, Chat. Stay as long as you like. Or…” she corrected, “at least until I have to get some sleep.”  
  
“Of course!” He broke in before she had to make any further explanation. It tumbled out of her regardless in an almost imperceptible mumble.  
  
“… somehow I’m not sure how I’d explain you being here if my parents decided to check in on me in the morning…"

A blush crept up behind his bell collar, but she didn't notice, already moving back to her final page of math problems.  
  
“Good. Help yourself to the books. I should be done with this soon and then maybe we can do something more interesting before it gets too late.”  
  
He brightened, plopping himself on her chaise lounge and poking at the stack of books and comics (borrowed from Alya, mostly) that she’d taken to keeping out for him in the evenings.  
  
Pages shuffled.  
  
Traces of night rain dripped against the roof.  
  
Marinette’s pencil scratched.  
  
“Hey, Princess…”  
  
“Hmm?” She finally finished reviewing the last problem and flipped her textbook closed.  
  
Across the room, Chat’s tone was strangely awed and contemplative.  
  
“How did you get so strong?”

**Author's Note:**

> That’s all, folks.
> 
> Just another night in the ongoing saga of Cat-kid and Bug-girl.
> 
> Marinette’s toes are cold but damn if she’s gonna put on her last clean pair of warm socks while he’s there…. (They’re the green and black cat ones. Super fluffy. She crocheted them herself. Would rather die than let him know she owns more stuff in his theme.)
> 
> PS and yes Marinette is totally ripped don’t even let anyone tell you otherwise. Getting Chat unstuck was probably like lifting a couple of grapes.


End file.
